Jay Weber Show transcript 6-17-25
Some listeners are asking: are you going to talk about President Trump’s conflicting messages on illegals? He says- deport them all in one breath...but...wants amnesty for farm workers and meat cutters and illegals in any industry that uses the cheap labor in the next?
Wanna try to square this circle, Jay?
Not particularly. I am not an official ‘defender’ or ‘explainer’ of Donald Trump...but I’ll give you my take...which is: he’s not talking about amnesty for farm workers or day laborers-
He’s talking about ‘laying off on the ice raids of certain businesses and industries that rely more heavily on illegal labor- until we can get the bulk of these illegal newcomers out of here-and adjust the economy.
That’s how I view this-and no- I don’t think it’s a conflicting or silly strategy.
I’d explain it this way: Joe Biden and his open borders allowed ten to 15 million ‘largely unvetted’ illegal aliens into this country over the last four years alone.
Just using the basic statistic that one of every ten are criminals, gang members, or terrorists-that’s a million people who ICE should be going after ‘first’- and they are prioritizing them.
Then-you have the 2 or 3 million ‘got aways’ who didn’t even announce themselves and come in at a border crossing as Biden welcomed them in. That’s another group of people who need to be prioritized.
Then- all ‘recent arrivals’ should be prioritized, as well. That’s ten million illegals on top of the 15 or 20 million who were already here-and have been here- long term.
It’s those ‘longer term’ illegals who have had the time to work their way into a community. Become reliable workers on farms and meat packing plants...etc.
If there are a group of ‘decent, hardworking, illegal aliens who really came here for a better life and are contributing to society-it would be -that- group of people.
And that is the group of people who most Americans have said-for decades- they’ve got a ‘soft spot’ for...and aren’t overly upset if they stay.
And so- my take on Trump’s ‘conflicting messages’ of the last week is: they really aren’t.
Trump is talking about prioritizing. He’s talking about raiding ‘gang hideouts’ and ‘illegal drug dens and night clubs’- and not prioritizing raiding farms and meat packing plants....as a few of the more recent ice raids have been doing.
And we know why ICE has shifted its focus to some of these workplaces that are known to have illegals at them- over the last several weeks: it’s because Stephen Miller- one of president trump’s top advisors-and a man who has always been a hardliner on illegal aliens and wants them all out. All of them.
It's because Miller recently called the regional ice leaders together for a meeting and blasted them for not doing enough. Miller and trump want to see higher daily deportation totals. Not a thousand a day...but more like 3 thousand a day. And so, when the boss has just yelled at you to ‘do better’.... How do I meet that quota?
Stephen miller literally ordered them to start going after the low-hanging fruit: raiding Home Depot parking lots. Doing workplace raids. Etc.
And so, they did.
That brought a backlash from all sorts of Trump supporters in small businesses and in farming who said: i thought you were prioritizing Biden’s ten million unknowns? Why are you arresting farm hands who’ve been working for me for 10 or 20 years?
And hey- you can decide where you, personally, want to draw that line: should every single illegal alien be deported? Regardless of how long they’ve been here or how valuable they might be to an employer?
We all have our own opinions on that-
But I’m explaining to you why this is happening. And why it’s actually a logical and reasonable move to have President Trump decide Stephen Miller went ‘too far’ with his orders to ice leaders....and instead...they should get back to prioritizing criminals, thugs, and Biden’s recent arrivals.
After all-that’s 5 to 10 million people ice can-and should-remove- before we even need to get into the question of ‘whether longer-term illegals should be deported’...or ultimately be normalized.
And so, no, i didn’t see trump backing down on his campaign promises. He promised a mass deportation -starting with the most dangerous and unvetted- and he’s doing so.
Just last week-after the legal wrangling was concluded-Trump’s dept of homeland security officially killed off Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas’ unforgivable and insane -quote – parole program- for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.
Biden’s regime flew hundreds of thousands of illegals directly from these countries-and gave special status to others from those areas who crossed the border on their own-
And it was Bologna: Biden’s regime gave them a free pass into the country-anywhere they wanted to settle- and work permits as well.
Last week-trump’s team officially canceled the program and made it clear: here’s a group of people who are ripe for deportation: half a million -largely unvetted- people from socialist and communist countries....who Biden let come in to compete for American jobs and undercut American workers.
As Trump’s DHS said in a statement when they officially canceled the program following months of legal wrangling.
Will they?
No. And so that’s another half-a-million illegal who our govt presumably has at least ‘a lead on’ ...in terms of where they are...who can be collected and deported first.
Sadly, ice has no shortage of targets for deportation. And while I, personally, don’t particularly care ‘who goes back’...and in ‘what order’.... It’s perfectly reasonable to prioritize this for the criminals and recent arrivals first.
Late last week, president trump suggested ice should lay off the workplace raids in certain industries...and by this weekend...he was making it clear that ICE was going to flood the zone when it came to our biggest sanctuary cities.
Again- logical, ‘half of the country’s 850-thousand crop workers are illegals.That’s only 425-thousand illegals- most of whom have been in this country for decades or have been seasonal workers.
It's easy to leave them alone and go after the 10 to 15-million illegals Biden just let in- starting with the most dangerous first.
This isn’t outrageous or illogical. Trump isn’t saying ‘farm workers’ get amnesty. Or ‘meat packers get to stay’.
He’s saying- they won’t be prioritized-because harming those industries -short term-doesn’t make sense with so many potential-and better- targets for deportation.
Oh-and if we are on the topic of farming: a few others have asked why the Wisconsin institute of law and liberty is suing the Trump administration? - as if they are both on the ‘same side’ on things.
In general, they are because will is an organization that champions smaller, more effective government and freedom of liberties...
But the lawsuit announced this week should really be seen as ‘will’ suing over some ‘hold-over Biden era AG programs that the supreme court has since deemed illegal and racist.
That’s what this is. Trump’s ag team apparently hasn’t gotten around to killing them off yet- and will is right to sue to get them ended.
They are doing so on behalf of a white farmer who says the federal government is still freezing him out of helpful ag programs -even after the supreme court has made it clear in a few different rulings now that ‘discrimination is discrimination’.
Those are all discriminatory. Faust is right to complain. Will is right to sue. And I assume Trump’s AG dept is going to be announcing, at some point, that those special incentives for female and minority dairy farmers are over.
The supreme court has said twice within two years- they cannot exist as government policy.
photo credit: Getty Images
audio version of the segment here > Clearing up some confusion on mass deportations